


side by side

by trixiechick



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-14
Updated: 2006-06-14
Packaged: 2019-11-26 22:55:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18186725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trixiechick/pseuds/trixiechick
Summary: Morishita remembers





	side by side

**Author's Note:**

> for daisy_chan, for [this request](http://community.livejournal.com/fic_on_demand/625635.html) on fic on demand.

He watches them play. He's not the only one, of course. Whenever they play, there is an audience. He hears they play at Touya Kouyou's salon. He envies them.

When he looks at Touya Kouyou's boy, he's reminded of the boy that Touya Kouyou used to be. A boy who smiled and looked nervous and didn't always know what the right thing to do or say was. They were insei together, and they often ate lunch together. Truthfully, it was always a group, but he didn't remember anyone else being there - just himself and Touya Kouyou.

In their pro exam, Touya Kouyou lost twice, once to an older insei, who failed the exam, and once to an outsider, who was the other person who passed. Morishita lost three times, to Touya Kouyou, to the outsider, and to a younger insei, who just was good at getting on his nerves. He still has pictures of them after the exams, standing next to each other and looking nervous. 

Back then, Touya Kouyou didn't always wear traditional clothes. He didn't always have his hair cut perfectly straight. He didn't always look like an imposing statue. He sometimes smiled, and laughed. His voice wasn't so deep. 

He wasn't so desperate in his search for the Divine Move.

Back then, he had thought he could walk the path with Touya Kouyou, just as they had walked the path to the pros together. Back then, he had thought they were friends.

And they were, in as much as Touya Kouyou had friends.

He was there the day that Touya Kouyou brought his fiancée to the Go Institute. It had been an arranged marriage, but they both looked happy. He showed her around, and introduced her to everyone. She watched him play a match, and Morishita had been there to answer some questions for her. He was invited to the wedding. He gave them a wok for a gift. Touya's bride had written a lovely thank you note.

He was at the Go Institute the day that Touya Kouyou announced he was going to be a father. Their eyes had met for a moment. It had been an exciting day.

He'd always thought they were walking side by side, but genius was genius. Before long, he was watching the sun obscure Touya Kouyou's form as he got too far ahead for Morishita to keep up.

He watches his student play Touya Akira. The baby he'd bought blue blankets for eons ago. This child had his father's genius, perhaps. 

The boy across the goban from him, though, won't allow Touya Kouyou's son to get out of his sight.

Morishita smiles, and he's pleased with his student's play, even though the boy is going to lose, even though he can't take any credit for it, even though it really makes him jealous.

Touya Kouyou is in Korea now, moving further and further away from the person that walked by Morishita's side.


End file.
